With the school summer holidays approaching, the Department of Education and Children is reminding employers to adhere to laws relating to taking on children.
 
The Department has recently distributed posters to employers and sent copies to libraries and GPs’ surgeries and other places where they can be viewed by the public.
 
The posters remind those hiring children to observe the Employment of Children Regulations 2005, which form part of the Education Act of 2001.
 
The main regulations employers need to be aware of include:
 
• Children under 13 can’t be employed at all
• Children under 15 can only be employed for ‘light work’. This is work that doesn’t involve standing for a considerable time, walking a considerable distance, operating heavy machinery, moving, lifting or carrying heavy weights or any other form of heavy labour.
 
In addition, school-aged children cannot work:
 
• More than 28 hours if they are under 15 or 35 hours if they are 15 or 16
• Before 7am or after 9pm on a school day or before 7am and after 10pm on a non school day
• For more than two hours on a school day that is followed by a school day; four hours on a school day followed by a non school day and seven hours on a non school day
• For more than six days in any one week.
 
The regulations also require children to be given certain specified breaks and require employers to keep a detailed register of children on their payroll and to allow DEC to inspect it.
 
Employers contravening the regulations and, in some cases, parents can be fined up to ?5,000 for contravening them.
 
School-aged child means a child below the limit of compulsory education.
 
The full regulations can be found on http://cf.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/education-and-children/ (click on Policy and Procedures A-Z and see ‘Employment of Children’).
 
Employers with queries should ring Joanna Callister on 685792 or email Joanna.Callister@doe.gov.im.